Chinese Fighter Jet Buzzes U.S. Air Force Plane

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A Chinese fighter pilot flew within 20 feet of an Air Force reconnaissance plane over the South China Sea last week, forcing the U.S. aircrew to take evasive maneuvers to avoid a collision, American officials said Thursday.

The Pentagon’s U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement that an Air Force RC-135 aircraft was flying in international airspace and lawfully conducting routine operations on Dec. 21 when a pilot with the People’s Liberation Army-Navy (PLAN) maneuvered a Chinese J-11 fighter jet in front of the large four-engine aircraft.

“The PLAN pilot flew an unsafe maneuver by flying in front of and within 20 feet of the nose of the RC-135,” according to the Indo-Pacific Command statement, which included a video of the incident.

(Read more from “Chinese Fighter Jet Buzzes U.S. Air Force Plane” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

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China Just Launched Its Largest Ever Simulation Attack on Taiwan

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Over the Christmas weekend China launched the largest military drills yet to simulate an invasion of Taiwan, causing alarm among national security experts.

“China sent 71 warplanes near Taiwan as a part of its biggest display of military might since US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the democratically run island, with Taipei accusing Beijing of ‘military intimidation,'” Bloomberg reports. “The Ministry of Defense in Taipei said the flights included 47 Chinese military aircraft that crossed either the median line of the Taiwan Strait or entered Taiwan’s southwest air-defense identification zone in a 24-hour period to 6 a.m. Monday.”

(Read more from “China Just Launched Its Largest Ever Simulation Attack on Taiwan” HERE)

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US Military Personnel Are Lining up on a Waitlist To Hunt an Extremely Dangerous Scorpion in Kuwait

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According to Stars and Stripes, some members of the United States military have a new hobby: hunting one of the most dangerous scorpions on earth. And the hobby has become so popular that there is now a waitlist to get in on the scorpion hunts.

The scorpion they are hunting is called Androctonus crassicauda, known as the Arabian fat-tailed scorpion. Although the venom of the scorpion is extremely dangerous, it is generally regarded as aggressive towards humans; rather, members of the military hunt these creatures because they are a danger to the service dogs the military relies upon.

In fact, one of the reasons the hunts began was to encourage the military to provide anti-venom at bases in Kuwait, which the military has been reluctant to do since attacks on humans are so rare, and since the military believes that the population of Arabian fat-tailed scorpions is dwindling in the area.

“Initially we went out to do a population estimate, and then we found that there is a significant number,” Army veterinary technician Spc. Joseph Neitz told Stars and Stripes. Neitz has been organizing the hunts since May. (Read more from “US Military Personnel Are Lining up on a Waitlist To Hunt an Extremely Dangerous Scorpion in Kuwait” HERE)

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In England, Praying Outside an Abortion Clinic Can Be a Jailable Offense

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Just in time for Christmas, an English woman has been arrested for directing her thoughts to God in public. Isabel Vaughan-Spruce was interrogated, searched, and jailed for praying in silence on a public street in Birmingham, England. Her crime? She is alleged to have violated a local law establishing a so-called “buffer zone” banning prayer, even silent prayer, in the vicinity of an abortion facility.

“Buffer zones” would more appropriately be described as censorship zones. More befitting a totalitarian state, they are an extreme violation of fundamental freedoms.

Isabel’s arrest happened at the same time that a bill is being hotly debated in the Parliament of the United Kingdom that would roll out nationwide censorship zones. Where these zones are already in place, such as in Birmingham, the abuses have been egregious. Their existence indicates a rapidly escalating trend to criminalize the freedoms of expression and religion in the U.K. — essentially, the policing of inner thoughts.

On December 15, Isabel, the director of March for Life U.K., was charged with four counts of failing to comply with Birmingham’s Public Space Protection Order, which came into effect in September of this year. The order is based on the eerily titled Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act of 2014. It prohibits “protesting, namely engaging in any act of approval or disapproval or attempted act of approval or disapproval, with respect to issues related to abortion services, by any means” in a restricted zone encompassing several streets around an abortion facility. And as Isabel’s arrest shows, its definition of “protesting” includes: “graphic, verbal or written means, prayer or counselling.” (Read more from “In England, Praying Outside an Abortion Clinic Can Be a Jailable Offense” HERE)

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Ukraine War Could Drag On for Years, Former Ambassador Says

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Almost 10 months after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s troops invaded Ukraine, a former ambassador to the U.S. is warning that the war could drag on for years.

Ukrainian diplomat Valeriy Chaly, who was Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States from 2015 to 2019, warned that the newly promised Patriot advanced missile system from the U.S. won’t be enough, and that Ukraine needs more weapons to win the war.

Ahead of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s stop in Washington on Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken unveiled a $1.85 billion military package for Kyiv that included a Patriot missile system.

The Ukrainian leader has for months been asking the U.S. for stronger weapons to shoot down Russian missiles, as Putin’s forces have been bombarding Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, causing blackouts across the country. (Read more from “Ukraine War Could Drag On for Years, Former Ambassador Says” HERE)

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Ukraine’s Zelensky in DC; Biden Meet, Congress Address

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is scheduled to speak to Congress and President Joe Biden on Wednesday and claim the $45 billion worth of aid designated for Ukraine in the $1.7 trillion omnibus bill is not enough support.

Congress is weighing whether to pass the massive $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill that designates $45 billion in military and economic aid for Ukraine. The $45 billion is in addition to the $66 billion lawmakers have already approved of taxpayers’ money for Ukraine.

On Tuesday, Zelensky released a video revealing he will tell Biden and Congress $45 billion is still not enough support. . .

Zelensky’s claim that $45 billion is not enough aid – on top of the already approved $66 billion – comes as the omnibus bill is expected to approve a military budget of about $858 billion, $45 billion more than Biden had requested from taxpayers. (Read more from “Ukraine’s Zelensky in DC; Biden Meet, Congress Address” HERE)

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Kim Jong-un Sister Threatens to Launch ICBM Towards USA

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Kim Yo-Jong, a top North Korean communist official and sister of dictator Kim Jong-un, published a barely coherent string of insults and threats on Tuesday suggesting that international experts doubting the quality of North Korean weapons may soon prompt an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch across the Pacific Ocean.

Kim, officially a vice department director at the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party (the ruling communist party), published her statement through the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), one of the few legal media outlets in the country and a government-run propaganda platform.

Kim appeared to be responding to the free world’s tepid response to North Korean media announcing that it had developed a military espionage satellite and publishing low-resolution, black-and-white images as proof.

“I am getting bored and tired of hearing the bark of the south Korean puppets who have the bad habit of finding fault with others,” Kim Yo-jong proclaimed. “Even in the end of the year, they continue to pull us up, not content with finding fault with us from the beginning of the year.” (Read more from “Kim Jong-un Sister Threatens to Launch ICBM Towards USA” HERE)

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Russian Troop Losses Could Hit 100K Before Christmas: Ukraine

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Russian President Vladimir Putin’s army is poised to reach 100,000 troop losses just shy of Christmas and the Ukraine war’s 10-month anniversary, according to calculations based on Ukrainian estimates.

The Defense Ministry of Ukraine and General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine provide daily estimates of how many Russian personnel have been lost since the day before, as well as the total number of Russian losses since the war began.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry reported that Russia had lost about 98,800 troops as of Monday. With 520 new estimated Russian losses on Monday included, a Newsweek calculation based on the Ukrainian death counts show that Russia has lost an average of 577 soldiers per day over the past week. If this or a similar average is maintained over the next few days, Russia will surpass the 100,000 mark on Thursday. (Read more from “Russian Troop Losses Could Hit 100K Before Christmas: Ukraine” HERE)

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Landslide at Campground Leaves 16 Dead, 17 Missing

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A landslide Friday at a tourist campground in Malaysia left 16 people dead and authorities said 17 others were feared buried at the site on an organic farm outside the capital of Kuala Lumpur.

An estimated 94 Malaysians were believed to have been at the campsite in Batang Kali in central Selangor state, around 31 miles north of Kuala Lumpur, when the incident occurred, said district police chief Suffian Abdullah.

He said the death toll has risen to 16, including a five-year-old boy. Seven people have been hospitalized with injuries and rescuers were searching for the estimated 17 missing people, he said. Another 53 people were rescued without harm.

Suffian said the victims had entered the area, a popular recreational site for locals to pitch or rent tents from the farm, on Wednesday. More than 400 personnel, including tracking dogs, were involved in the search and rescue efforts. (Read more from “Landslide at Campground Leaves 16 Dead, 17 Missing” HERE)

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U.S. Weapons Causing ‘Heavy’ Russian Losses Amid Artillery Duels: Commander

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Ukrainian and Russian forces have reverted to punishing artillery duels across much of the front line as both sides wait for frozen ground that is expected to open a new window for fresh mechanized offensives.

As in the summer, both sides are facing intense ammunition pressures as artillery teams seek and destroy their rivals. Ukraine is in a unique bind; struggling to refill its stocks of Soviet-made 152mm caliber shells, while also trying to integrate a smorgasbord of NATO-donated artillery systems that largely fire 155mm munitions.

Weapons including the U.S.-made M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System and its British and German counterparts; the American M777; the French Caesar; the Polish AHS Krab; and the German PzH 2000 are all now in regular use along the front.

Western systems and shells, one commander fighting on the southern front told Newsweek, have been instrumental in helping the Ukrainians inflict serious casualties on the invaders and erode their ability to defend occupied positions. (Read more from “U.S. Weapons Causing ‘Heavy’ Russian Losses Amid Artillery Duels: Commander” HERE)

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